The pressure is intense and at you every time: Sanga

Kumar Sangakkara hit a splendid unbeaten 134 and led Sri Lanka's chase to take them to a thumping 7-wicket win over hosts England, thereby keeping his country's semi-final hopes alive.

Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan built the innings and added 92 runs for the second wicket. After Dilshan's departure, Sangakkara was joined by another Lankan great, Mahela Jayawardene, with whom he partnered for an attractive 85.

"I was pretty happy with the way I went about it. The way Dilshan and Mahela batted was good. Mahela is certainly the best batsman in the side. He was out unfortunately as he was trying to play it too fine and holed out." stated Sangakkara after receiving the Man-of-the-match award at the presentation ceremony.

Nuwan Kulasekara, who was sent as a pinch hitter, smashed an aggressive half-century to help Sri Lanka over the finish line. Kulasekara was involved in an unbeaten century stand with Sangakkara and the latter was all praise for him, "Kulasekara was the icing on the cake. He started off really slowly, but when the powerplay was over, he surprised everyone with his shots. His placement was very good," added Sangakkara.

When asked how he coped with the pressure of the match knowing it was a do or die encounter for Sri Lanka, the elegant batsman replied, "That's international cricket and the Champions Trophy for you. The pressure is intense and at you every time. That's what players enjoy as well. We got to win the next game and prepare well for the Aussies. They are a great side."

The winning captain, Angelo Mathews hailed the efforts of his bowlers. "We needed this win. We started off pretty waywardly. The bowlers came back nicely in the middle period. There was the one over that went for 20 odd runs," quoted Mathews.

The Lankan skipper was delighted with the unbeaten 110-run match-winning partnership between Sangakkara and Kulasekara. "It's good to have Sangakkara at number three. When the team needs him, he delivers. The wicket turned out to be an absolute belter when we batted. It was seaming at the start, but later was brilliant to bat on. Kulasekara has been brilliant with the bat and it was the management's decision to promote him. He contributes in whatever way he can," added Mathews.

Mathews was slightly disappointed with the bowling at the death, when Ravi Bopara took apart Shaminda Eranga hammering him for 28 runs off the final over of the innings. He was also not pleased with the fielding and with the number of catches dropped. "They got a bit of momentum in the last over. In the last game we were a bit rusty. We can still improve in the field," said Mathews.

A disappointed England skipper, Alastair Cook, praised Sangakkara's ton. "That was an outstanding hundred. The pitch got easier and quicker as the day went by. Credit due to them. It happened so quickly that it's hard to say exactly what we could have done. It was a very good chase. When the ball gets changed, its very hard to get it to reverse swing. It's one of those days where we have to say 'Well played' to the opposition," said Cook.

England need to beat New Zealand in their last encounter to make it to the semi-finals. "We knew that we had to win one of these two games. That is why the Champions Trophy is such a good tournament," quoted Cook.

The International Cricket Council made it clear that it had nothing to do with the absence of former Indian captain Ravi Shastri from the panel of commentators for last month's ICC Champions Trophy in England.

Former skipper, Sunil Gavaskar and other ex-cricketers on Tuesday said in unison that one should refrain from drawing comparisons between Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his predecessors, insisting instead to rejoice India's success in the ICC Champions Trophy.